Wait on The Lord

Psalms 123:2

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.”

The picture the Psalmist gives here is a powerful picture packed with implications of how we wait on the Lord. “The eyes of the servant look upon the hand of their master” implies that the servant is in close proximity to the master. He is not out running around busy doing his own thing or what he thinks the master wants of him. He is not distracted by other people’s activities or demands, but his focus and full attention is on the master. It is not a passive position, but a posture of expectation that at any moment the master will have some instruction of what he wants done.

The servant’s position is also a position of submission, dependence and trust. His focus is not on his agenda or the agenda of others, but solely on the will of the master. His focus is on the hand of the master for all that he needs. He is completely dependent on the master for life, direction, and purpose. His full identity is in the master and his will.

Instead of waiting on the Lord for our full identity, direction, and purpose in life, we often times find ourselves waiting on the Lord for Him to fulfill what we want and need, and if He does not come throught as we expect, we simply do it on our own. Our identity, fulfillment and purpose in life come from our job, family, some other person, activity or possession. Our eyes are often on others, their expectations of us or our expectations of ourselves. We can become anxious, worried, frustrated or discouraged when things do not go as we expected. We can become critical of ourselves and others.

In the midst of the turmoil of the world that we live in today, where evil seems to be triumphing over good, we need to remind ourselves of the words of David in Psalms 37:3-7, “Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”

Whatever you are going through today, I encourage you to pull away from the turmoil around you and refocus on the greatness of our God, a God who created all things, is over all things, and sustains all things by His Word and power. Meditate on God and His Word. May He become your full delight, and may His will and way become food for your soul. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalms 27:14)

Andy

Numbers

Isaiah 6:1-2

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

In this chapter, Isaiah has a revelation of the awesomeness of God, a God who sits in authority over all things, and whose glory fills the heaven and the earth as the water covers the sea. It is this revelation of God that brings Isaiah to the revelation of himself. "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” It is only out of a revelation of God that we come to understand the magnitude of our need for God in our lives and our ministry.

When Isaiah truly recognizes his need, God comes down and meets him at his point of need and purifies his unclean lips, declaring him clean and positioning him for service. God then identifies what he is called to do and the expected results of his service.

Isaiah 6:8-11 “Then Isaiah said, "Here am I! Send me." And God said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return and be healed." Then Isaiah said, "Lord, how long?" And God answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate.”

God reveals himself to Isaiah, calls him and empowers him to be one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history during one of the worst times of Israel’s history. God tells Isaiah that no one would hear, understand, see or perceive what he was saying because God had made their hearts dull, ears heavy, and shut their eyes so that they wouldn’t understand and be healed. Isaiah asked how long he is to carry one this seemingly fruitless ministry, and God responds that he is to continue to do so until Israel is destroyed and taken into captivity.

Too often today we measure our calling and success in ministry by manmade standards. We laud those who have big “successful” churches and ministries and oftentimes feel as though we are failing because we fail to achieve what the world and church world deems to be successful. If Isaiah’s prophetic ministry were to be today, he would probably be branded as crazy, out of touch with the times, and a failure at reaching his generation.

God does raise up great ministries, but God’s measure of success is based not on man’s capabilities but upon our obedience to what He has called each of us to do no matter what the response. We live in a time of great opportunity but also a time of spiritual decay around the world and opposition to the truth. Despite the darkness, opposition, and at times seeming lack of success, we cannot pull back. What we need today are men and women like Isaiah, who have had a life-changing revelation of God that propels them and sustains them in life and in ministry no matter what the cost, consequences or results.

May God reveal himself afresh to you today and empower you to do what He has called you to do.

Andy

The Fragrance of Christ

2 Corinthians 2:14-17

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?”

No matter who we are, where we are or what we are doing in the world, as believers in Christ we are called by God to be the fragrance of Christ to those with whom we come in contact. One key element to being able to diffuse the fragrance of Christ is our ability to always walk in triumph no matter what is going on around us because Christ has bought for us the victory. The picture Paul gives here is of an army returning victoriously from battle, and as they enter the city, people in celebration would fill the air with the sweet smell released by the burning of spices in the street. To the victorious it was an aroma of life. To the conquered it was an aroma of death.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:13) Our ability by the Spirit to be of good cheer in the midst of the chaos around is a sweet aroma that encourages and brings life. Paul and Silas after being beaten and put in chains in prison sang praises to God. The Bible says all those in the prison heard them. In the midst of a terrible situation, the fragrance of Christ diffused throughout the prison leading them into triumph and bringing many to Christ.

The second element to diffusing the fragrance of Christ is to grow in the knowledge of Him in every place. The word “knowledge” here is not just knowing about Christ, but a knowledge that comes from intimate relationship with Him and is life-changing. It means to saturate ourselves with Christ so that His character and nature just naturally diffuse His fragrance in our lives at all times and in all situations. In John 12, Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy serving Jesus, Lazarus was at the table eating with Jesus, while Mary was at His feet in worship anointing His feet with “a very costly oil, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” It is out of a life of worship that the fragrance of Christ is diffused wherever we go.

In 2 Corinthians 2, there are two kinds of people, “those being saved and those who are perishing.” Both should smell the fragrance of Christ in us. You can tell you are emanating the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ by the response of those around you. To those who are perishing, “we are the aroma of death” because they hate who we are and what we represent. Hiowever those who are being saved, we are “the aroma of life leading to life.” The aroma of Christ in us, while repelling the world, will attract those who are destined for salvation.

Jesus said, “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:19-20) Let us be careful that we don’t so blend with the culture that we fail to “diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

Andy Clark